ALL EYES ON THE BACKBENCH, PLEASE.

The Muskrat Falls project, in all its complexity and potential for negative outcomes, is akin to a bomb with multiple warheads for politicians.  Political fallout could occur from several directions, perhaps even at once.  Weaknesses in decision making will be exposed as cost projections continue to increase, the price of oil remains weak, and low natural gas prices and power conversions to that form, continue to dominate the energy news in other jurisdictions. Look for a number of Cabinet Ministers and backbenchers alike, to become uncomfortable. 
By the time Muskrat Falls is sanctioned, it will be interesting to see whether any of the current Ministers have the courage exhibited, in another time, by John Crosbie, Clyde Wells, Alex Hickman and Val Earle, who sought the Opposition benches (Wells became an independent MHA) when the Smallwood government engaged in reckless behaviour with the finances of the Province.

Will any of them follow the example of Tom Rideout or Jim Hodder, who left the Liberal Party in the mid-1980s, because of the Party’s failure to back the Peckford Tories over natural resource issues and revenue sharing with the Feds?

Now, it’s the Tories who are in government and who are playing fast and loose with public policy and the public treasury. 

But even before you take notice of how guarded certain Ministers will become, you would do well to watch the Members sitting in the government’s back benches. 

A SERIOUS DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT IS EXPOSED

(The following Essay, is a companion piece to the last Post.  It was penned by Uncle Gnarley’s scribe and first appeared in The Telegram, Monday, June 11, 2012.  It is re-produced here for continuity purposes and for the benefit of Uncle Gnarley readers.)
The unfolding of the Muskrat Falls issue, as it has, demands that we pause for a moment.  The government and its proxy, Nalcor, has managed how we view the project by parcelling out selected information, steadfastly refusing the release of critical data, subverting the public review process and pummelling legitimate critics. 
As members of a democratic society, we need to consider how such behaviours have impacted our rightful participation in this major public policy initiative.  Equally, we need to consider what we have willfully acceded to the state given that many people have denied their responsibility to assess the project and its risk to themselves and to our economy; we also need to consider how we have enabled this process.

From the very beginning, government was careful about the information it released, ensuring that it was minimal.  When it was forced to send the issue for review, after opposition protest, it framed a very narrow reference question, and gave the PUB little time to conduct its enquiry. 

HOW SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT INFORM ITS CITIZENS ON MUSKRAT FALLS?

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has failed in its obligation to provide transparency on the Muskrat Falls issue; as a result, it has allowed a serious democratic deficit to occur.  Government has an obligation, as part of the democratic contract, to explain the complexities of Muskrat Falls; citizens should be engaged in the issue in order to assess the risks of the project themselves; they should not defer to the so-called experts.  It is the people, ultimately, who must take responsibility for critical matters of state. 

These are issues to be explored in another posting.  Let’s set the stage for that discussion by first dealing with this most basic question:  how should the government inform its citizens about the Muskrat Falls project? 

THE LIMITS OF PARTISANSHIP

The following Essay penned by Uncle Gnarley’s writer, appeared in The Telegram, Saturday, June 2, 2012 edition, and is re-produced here with minor edits.)          

Once the tyranny of the Smallwood years had been lifted, after the 1972 general election, it did not take long for new government systems to be introduced. 

Modern management practices including a more formalized public information system, a system for hiring public employees based upon merit, a public tendering system, as well as others were introduced.  A restructuring of the legislative and executive branches of the public service occurred; capable people became involved in the governance of the Province.  While the system was far from perfect and backsliding was sometimes manifest, major advances in the overall system of governing for a democratic society were evident.  Somehow, that process was halted with Muskrat Falls.

The Muskrat Falls project was a big head butt! Not at first. Not until the questions started to emerge. Maybe it wasn’t even then; perhaps, it was when Minister Kennedy was heard voicing outlandish and accusatory statements in an attempt to discredit certain individuals.  Many people then took the time to review the information on Muskrat Falls.  Personally, I came to the conclusion that it was not only ill thought out, it was reckless. Still, that is another matter.

HOW NOT TO LOSE YOUR MARBLES!

(Uncle Gnarley is hosting the Class of 2012; his umpteenth time performing high level instruction to the politically naïve.  Let’s listen in…as he addresses the group.) Here's Uncle Gnarley:

People, often to their detriment, enjoy a belief in the fundamental fairness of political institutions.    Human progress is frequently inhibited because, all too often, we give way to, what I call, “the tyranny of naïve realism”.  

The art of the process is not as much science as it is attitude.  Perhaps it is our relative isolation, maybe it is in the generous nature of island people, as most of us are; whatever its source, we have a tendency to see things as ‘we want them to be’ rather than ‘as they are’.  It is a common weakness, especially in politics. It has to stop!

But don’t worry. Uncle Gnarley will have you wearing the grim aspect of a Presbyterian in no time. 

Now, Johnny, down in the far corner; you look so wise, yes, you, the one with the Walmart ‘Prices are Falling’ sticker on your jacket.   Answer me this question, what does the phrase “envelope approach to federalism” mean?  No, Johnny, I didn’t ask you to let your eye balls fall out; it’s not time for ‘show and tell’.  What do you mean, ask, Mary.  I’m asking you!  You have never heard of it? Then sit down and let Mary speak. 

BOOT CAMP FOR THE POLITICALLY NAIVE

“What is it that we have to do down here to get your attention?  We try to co-operate; it doesn’t work.  We vote for you; it doesn’t work. What is it?”

That was Premier Cathy Dunderdale, quoted verbatim from The Telegram Editorial page, Saturday, May 19, 2012, edition entitled “Fracas With the Feds”.    Of course, the lament was directed at the Prime Minister.

From the time Newfoundland entered Confederation, every Premier has felt ignored by the federal government; Smallwood had a running battle with Diefenbaker, Peckford with Trudeau and Chretien, Wells with Mulroney and now, Dunderdale with Harper. Do you see a trend?

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians seem to think that Ottawa wakes up every morning hell bent on screwing us.  Somehow, we can’t seem to figure this out:  Ottawa simply wakes up.  That’s it.  They are not hell bent on ‘screwing us’; Ottawa just doesn’t think of us, at all!

After more than sixty years in confederation, we still don’t get it.  Well, it’s time that you get it!  Think of this as boot-camp for the politically naïve.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Telegram Article: A BIG MAChiavellian Diatribe

Talk about contrasts. The Editor of the Saturday, May 19^th edition of the Telegram must have had that thought when he situated two opinion pieces on opposing pages containing very opposite views; one, an article by Brendan Sullivan, a former provincial government economist, called, “Muskrat Falls: how much are you prepared to pay?” and the other by Cathy Bennett, entitled, “Making the right decision, a former Nalcor board member speaks out”. 

Sullivan’s item deals with the singular issue of the high cost of Muskrat Falls power (27.7 – 40.5 cents per KWh compared with 10.4 cents per KWh, right now), and suggests Nalcor needs to look at an on-island solution. Bennett’s purpose is to defend Nalcor’s staff.     

Ms. Bennett writes, “I believe the work Nalcor has completed has an attention to detail and a discipline to best practice management that has positioned Nalcor as a world class corporation”. 

Ms. Bennett feels it is necessary to defend the professionalism of Nalcor staff.  Why?  Could it be because someone has exaggerated their expertise?  The fact is, no one has ever questioned Nalcor’s passion, professionalism or commitment, to their work or to their province.  But, some have correctly pointed out that Nalcor’s former incarnation, Newfoundland Hydro, has not built a major project since Cat Arm was constructed in the 1980s, which, by the way, went way over the original estimates. That’s thirty years ago!

Surely Cathy Bennett has not been influenced by the inaccurate belief, voiced by no less a personage than  Premier Dunderdale on VOCM's open line show, that it was the experts at Nalcor who built the Churchill Falls project, rather than Brinco?  Such a claim is, of course, a preposterous case of 'gilding the lily'.

Is it not a legitimate question to enquire how Nalcor is suddenly replete with the expertise for a project of the size and complexity of Muskrat Falls?

THE PUBLIC SECTOR PENSION PROMISE IS JUST THAT!

Uncle Gnarley was in a reflective mood.  He had difficulty getting Jos Arnell out of his mind.  Mostly, he was distressed that she felt vulnerable, perhaps even tormented, that her small pension might be in jeopardy. He knew she was one, isolated case, among thousands!

Declared Uncle Gnarley, “there is a larger issue at stake with this pension business”. 

“Nav”, he said, pausing, until he was sure he held his attention, “I have ‘Statement IV’ on page 5 of the Budget Details for the current fiscal year right in front of me.  Do you have any idea how large the ‘Unfunded Pension and Retirement Benefits Liability’ will be at the end of this fiscal year?” Nav feigned ignorance, knowing that he would soon be reminded anyway.  “Would you believe me, if I said $5.6 billion? Yep, $5.6 billion”, Gnarley repeated for emphasis. 

“Know what else, Gnarley demanded?   It did not even get mentioned in the Minister’s address; you have to dig for it in the budget details. When the Minister of Finance says the public debt is $8.7 billion, he knows that figure is actually much higher…what’s the phrase we economists are fond of, ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’.  Fits what this Minister is saying perfectly, growled Gnarley.  This fiscal year, alone, he ranted, the unfunded pension and the post-retirement benefits liabilities increased by a net figure of $467 million.  He was clearly frustrated.  And, the public sector unions let him get away with it!  There must be a ‘turnip’ allegory here, suggested Gnarley, and I’m not the one who fell off the turnip truck!” 

PR REHAB NOT 'TIDDLY WINKS'

Uncle Gnarley had put behind him the levity of his evening at the Royal Society of Old Farts.  Today, he seemed more pensive, indeed, quite self-possessed. The ‘Old Farts’ had given him a break from his worrying over the Muskrat Falls project. Now, he was ready, once more, to get his mind around, what he termed, ‘this dangerous venture’.

“Nav”, Uncle Gnarley, exploded, “I don’t understand these numbskulls.  How could they place our beloved province in such jeopardy”?

“I am thinking, Nav, I need to revive my public speaking career. I am a bit long in the tooth to be carrying out such a project.  But I prefer to be a virus on the government than viral on You Tube, he quipped”.

But Uncle Gnarley, I responded, did you not hear that the government is actually hosting a few public meetings to explain the Muskrat project and they are going to send out a pamphlet in the ‘Go Bag’.  Isn’t that enough, afterall?

Gnarley, glared, as only he could, and spat: “forced to put on a charade, is more like it.  They see a letter to the editor in The Telegram complaining that the Minister of Natural Resources needs “PR Rehab” and they run to cover their arses”.

Uncle Gnarley Addresses Annual Meeting ‘Royal Order of Old Farts’.

My Friends:

Finally, I get to address one of the most maligned groups in our Province. 

My mission, is to correct the erroneous impression that you are causing the unpleasant aroma that has become so pervasive, recently.  It is an impression with which you have been saddled, both in the media, and with certain groups.  The truth, my friends, is right under our noses.

My comments speak to the need for government to take responsibility for this unpleasant aroma.  Government should seek the necessary medication, and swallow it, hard.  It just won’t do to blame the very people on whom the aromas have the greatest negative effects. 

I speak to you at a fortuitous time for it has become evident that the people, themselves, keenly acknowledge that an odor is pervading the land; happily, they also are increasingly awareness of its source.

This realization usually follows an election, when people have a tendency to second guess themselves.  It is a perfectly normal reaction; voter remorse is an all too common fact of democratic life.